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November Breakfast Seminar: November 7th, 8:00am

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Please join the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) for our monthly Breakfast Seminar. Our November meeting will feature Professors Lauren Sancken and Jennifer Marlow from the UW School of Law, who also work with Three Degrees Warmer, a non-profit climate justice project. They will be discussing the health impacts of climate-related relocation in Kivalina, Alaska.

Date: Wednesday, November 7th

Time: 8:00 to 9:00 am

Location: Roosevelt 1 Building, Room 2228 (Fishbowl conference room)
(4225 Roosevelt Way, Suite #100 – through revolving doors, on your left. Buzz to be let in; conference room is at the top of the stairs to the left)

Relocation requires reimagining the role of law and policy in assisting community relocation planning in predisaster contexts. The 467-person Inupiaq whaling village of Kivalina, Alaska must relocate to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Despite decades of effort, no actionable relocation plans have emerged out of Kivalina’s formal engagement with traditional legal and policy avenues. This presentation will describe Kivalina’s efforts to relocate within the context of its colonial past; the limited US federal and state regulatory mechanisms available to Kivalina and other displaced communities; and describe Kivalina’s process to embrace the complexity of self-reliant relocation. It will also briefly describe how other communities facing climate displacement are approaching migration and resettlement.

Professor Lauren Sancken is a Lecturer at the University of Washington School of Law, where she teaches primarily first-year Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing and Persuasive Writing. Professor Sancken serves on the board as President of Three Degrees Warmer and is passionate about working with communities affected by climate change. She and Ms. Marlow are the co-authors of Reimagining Relocation in a Regulatory Void: The Inadequacy of Existing US Federal and State Regulatory Responses to Kivalina’s Climate Displacement in the Alaskan Arctic (Climate Law, 2017).

Professor Sancken earned her B.A. in History of Science from Harvard College and her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law. Prior to joining the UW law faculty, she worked as an associate at K&L Gates, LLP in Seattle for five years where her practice included complex commercial disputes, construction law, Indian law, real property, and consumer protection matters.

Jen Marlow is the co-founder and Executive Director of Three Degrees Warmer, a nonprofit climate justice project, and an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington School of Law. While a student at UW Law, Jennifer co-chaired the Three Degrees Conference on the Law of Climate Change and Human Rights, co-founded the Three Degrees climate justice project, and co-developed the Climate Justice Seminar—a graduate-level studio that emphasized cross-campus interdisciplinary collaboration and service-oriented research directed at climate-impacted regions. In her role as Executive Director of Three Degrees Warmer, Jen co-directs Re-Locate, a transdisciplinary research collective working in Kivalina, Alaska, in solidarity with the people’s struggle to relocate their village. Jen also co-owns Re-Locate LLC, a small business developing relocatable water and sanitation infrastructure for climate displaced communities. Jen graduated from Middlebury College in 2002, earned her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law in 2010, and is a member of the Washington State Bar.

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About Us:

The Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) collaboratively develops and promotes innovative approaches to understanding and managing the risks of global environmental change. CHanGE conducts research and policy analysis, education and training, and technical assistance and capacity building, integrating health, environmental, and social sciences. CHanGE focuses on health outcomes associated with the consequences of global environmental changes, such as extreme weather and climate events, water and food security, and infectious diseases. (http://globalchange.uw.edu/)

Breakfast Seminars will be held monthly, aiming to grow and strengthen networks, promote sharing of ideas, and support collaboration across health and climate change communities. Meetings are open to students, faculty, and staff across the University of Washington with an interest in understanding and mitigating the health impacts of climate change.